Poem #42: Anzac Cove

Young hearts and heads adventure filled
Were drawn to other lands by those
Whose fear, concern or hatred fueled
Through actions - bold, aggressive foes.

On ships they came upon that shore
With brave anticipation high.
A storm of lead hit to the core
And took young men without a sigh.

That stain of blood spread o’er the beach
As brave young lives cut short and lost
So far from home, in senseless reach
For peace - elusive, at what cost?

And now -

At Anzac Cove, a company
Of young Australians out to seek
And fashion their own destiny -
A solemn, silent, vigil keep.

(C) 2008 Trevor W. Hampel. All rights reserved.

The people of Australia and New Zealand celebrate their war heroes on this day, April 25th. The date commemorates the landing of our soldiers at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. It is now known as Anzac Cove. Tens of thousands of pilgrims – many of them young people – gather for the dawn service there every year. It has become a sacred, significant and moving ceremony for those who make the journey. The dawn service is also a feature of celebrations throughout both nations, together with marches through towns and cities everywhere.

Mt Macedon War Memorial

Note: this poem was originally posted on ANZAC Day 2008. I am republishing it on ANZAC Day 2009.

[...] I don’t have a photo of the rain. Instead I’ve included a photo of two Rainbow Lorikeets. Special Note: Today is Australia’s most sacred non-religious day: ANZAC DAY. On this day we stop to remember those who served in war. Foor my special tribute, go to my writing blog. [...]

With writing poetry I usually try to draw on my own experiences. This usually will result in a more authentic piece of writing.

In this case I couldn’t do that because war is totally out of my experience. In this case I had to draw entirely in my imagination. I tried to understand what it would have been like to have actually been there. What was I seeing, feeling, hearing? What was my response to the ‘experience’. I tried to put myself right there in the action. If you look closely at the poem again I have written it in the third person (‘they’) and this has removed me – the writer – a distance from the action. Your reaction is therefore interesting and what I had hoped for. It would have been an even stronger reaction I think if I had used the first person (‘I’ , ‘me’ , ‘my’) making it more personal.